Base-ball bat.



No. 795,815. PATENTED AUG. 1, 1905.

A. BURROWS.

BASE BALL BAT.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 12. 1903.

lf ITNESSES: Q I INVENTOR.

- ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BASE-BALL BAT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 1, 1905.

Application filed November 12, 1903. Serial No. 180,850.

T0 00% whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABsALoM BURROWS, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Base-Ball Bats, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in a base-ball bat; and it consists of further improvements in structure of the bat described and claimed in the patent granted to me on the 29th day of January, 1895, No. 533,27 2.

The present invention, like that in the patent above referred to, is designed to impart to the handle and its adjacent part sufficient flexibility to relieve the handle of the stinging shock incident to the forcible impact of a bat with a rapidly-moving ball in the practice of playing base-ball; and thisI accomplish by the use of pieces of various shapes and having, respectively, rectangular and wedgeshaped ends and sides, all so arranged and united as to effectively distribute the force of the impact of the bat against a ball and at the same time to secure a proper degree of resiliency, as hereinafter described, and more particularly claimed, and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 illustrates a perspective view of a bat made in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 shows a similar view of the bat with the several parts or members detached, and Fig. 3 represents a vertical section taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the reference-letters of the drawings, A represents the body portion of the bat, B the handle, and O a core passing through the handle and embedded in the body portion A of the hat.

The tapered body portion A is formed of a hard wood, preferably hickory, and has a central opening or socket a, which may extend the whole or a good portion of its length to firmly hold the core C in position. In addition to this the reduced end of the body portion is provided with a series of circumferential wedge shaped fingers and rectangular mortises A, which are preferably tapered in the manner shown in Fig. 2 to receive correspondingly-formed portions of the handle B.

The handle B is what might be properly termed a built-up structure, being composed of a plurality of segmental strips band 6, some of which are each quarter-round at the outer end thereof, gradually widen at the top toward the inner end, and terminate in two wedge-shaped divergent fingers,the others being of practically rectangular sides and slightly convex at top and concave at bottom, the said quarter-round and rectangular-sided pieces being laid alternately to complete a symmetrically-rounded handle and placed circumferentially about a core, the whole being secured together by cement or'other suitable substance.

The core C is made of preferably hickory; but the segmental strips 6, forming the bandle, I prefer to make of a material more pliable, and in practice I find strips of cane to serve this purpose better than any other material I have as yet been able to discover. It will, however, be understood that a material other than cane may be employed in forming these handle-strips, provided, however, such a material has sufficient strength commensurate with its weight and is more pliable than the material forming the body portion of the bat. After the several parts of the bat have been united the handle may be covered by coating it with glue and winding a ribbon or cord about it. As shown and described in the patent previously referred to, this, however, is unnecessary and is only employed to impart neatness and finish to the completed article.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

A base-ball bat comprising a body whose inner end is provided with mortises and wedgeshaped projections, a sectional handle, and a central cylindrical core axially inserted into said body, the handle being built up of a plurality of segmental pieces approximately quarter-round at their outer ends and each having tapering wedge-shaped divergent fingers at its inner end, and a plurality of segmental pieces approximately rectangular in crosssection, all of said pieces being compactly fitted together around the central cylindrical core and tightly interengaged with the corresponding mortises and projections of the body end, the whole being secured together to form a symmetrical bat substantially in the manner herein described.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ABSALOM BURROWS. 

